Asphalt shingles are widely used as a roofing material in North America and other parts of the world. A typical shingle consists of a base which may be formerly-living organic base, a fiberglass base or another similar material. One or both sides of the asphalt-saturated base is coated with asphalt or modified-asphalt. Typically each shingle has an exposed top surface portion intended for exposure to the elements and an underlying portion intended to be covered by the exposed top surface portion of an overlying shingle. The exposed top surface portion typically has a granular material embedded in the asphalt or modified-asphalt such as slate, schist, quartz, vitrified brick, stone or ceramic granules. It is also known to provide self-sealing strips on the underside of the exposed surface portion to attach the exposed surface portion to the underlying portion of a lower shingle.
While asphalt shingles have proven to be extremely versatile and durable under most conditions, they are susceptible to damage when impacted by falling objects, most notably, hail, and in particular, hailstones larger than 1.5 inches in diameter.
The typical solution for a hail damaged asphalt shingle roof is replacement of the entire roof. However, research has shown that in the vast majority of hail incidents, only a small fraction of asphalt shingles on a roof are typically damaged. Furthermore, research has shown that particularly where the roof is within its serviceable life, the damage to the shingles is more cosmetic than structural. As a result, most asphalt shingle roofs within their service life can be repaired rather than replaced if an efficient and effective manner of shingle repair can be developed.
One known technique for the repair of hail damaged shingles consists of a process where a hail damaged top surface portion of a shingle is pivoted up to reveal an underlying portion of a lower shingle. A liquefied roofing asphalt is applied to the top surface of the underlying portion of the lower shingle underlying the point of impact of the overlying exposed top surface portion. Often a solvent based primer is first applied to improve adhesion. Thereafter, the damaged exposed top surface portion is pivoted back into contact with the underlying portion of the lower shingle and pressure is applied to the exposed top surface portion to adhere it to the liquid asphalt and, where the damage has resulted in fissures in the exposed top surface of the shingle, to promote flow of the liquid asphalt into any fissures formed in the impact area of the damaged shingle. Thereafter, granules matching those of the exposed surface area are applied to the point of impact and pressure is applied to embed the granules into the liquid asphalt which has flowed through the fissures. Thereafter, a tri-polymer sealant is applied to the impact point and surrounding surface area. While this method has proven effective at repairing hail damaged asphalt shingles, it is somewhat cumbersome because of the need to apply the liquid asphalt and most liquid asphalts are prone to brittleness with time.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.